Follow my story as I leave my son and husband to take up a new job 90 miles from home after years of being a stay-at-home mother and wife; and as my time in Leicester comes to end, dealing with what comes next...

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Grrrrrrrr - end of week 13

I'm really upset.... and just like you should'nt go shopping when hungry, one should not post to blog when upset.

But I'd better update now or else that will be another thing bugging me...."need to update my blog".

Anyway, the week had gone okay so far. Got in on Monday, drove straight to work. I only had 3 hours training scheduled again this week so I knew 'no stress'. I'd left my house with only a banana, some stale brown bread and 1 egg left in the fridge. I'd made some stew and there was a bit of rice left but in all, no food. So as I was kinda free, I decided to do my online Tesco shopping. Dominique had given me a long list as I left home so food shopping took the better part of the afternoon. I kept going in and adding more stuff till I had a £120 bill the end. Not bad actually as I have a house of 4 adults and 1 baby to feed. I'm not there most of the week obviously and Dominique eats so little. It's just Tunji and my 'just-come-from-Naija' cousin who is a size 8 (that's size 4 to you guys in the States) but eats like a horse. Don't you just hate that?! I love her to bits really.

I've got 2 puppies at work now, both the 2 Asian girls (HR & AR), if you recall, HR is 21 and getting engaged in March, she got me the sari. AR is 24 and is flirting with our 23yr old manager SN. So my puppies and I just chilled, gisting and doing bits of work in between. AR was training that evening 6pm - 9pm and I was sitting in with her for support.

I went in normal time on Tuesday and spent another day doing a bit of work every now and again. So far the organisation of the training has been chaotic. I'm past caring now. The level of incompetence is beyond any I have seen anywhere else. The schedule is crazy. They've recruited me as an experienced SAP Trainer contractor but are only using me for 3 hours a week. The more inexperienced trainers are under so much pressure training 24 - 36 hours a week. I felt bad in the beginning but "hey, whazmyown?" The training manuals for the delegates are in a shambles, no one is clued up enough to put together a manual that makes sense not to talk about the slides we present. Errors upon errors. Is anyone taking responsibility? No.

Don't get me wrong, I do try to do my bit - but they've put everyone in boxes - if you are a trainer, you train - trying to do more is perceived with suspicion, like you want to steal their £22k ($40K) per annum job. Yeah right!

The other trainers are dropping like flies and pulling sickies like no man's busines. Everyday this week, at least 4 of the 15 trainers have called in sick. I can't really do the same because the downside of this cushy job is "no work, no pay".

My training went well on Wednesday night, AR was training again that night and I offered to drop her off home when we finished at 9pm. The poor girl who only 2 weeks ago was threatening to quit because she could not bear the pressure had been scheduled to train everyday this week totalling almost 30hrs. Anyway, my lack of knowledge of Leicester came back to bite me as found myself driving 40 mins in the opposite direction to my home to drop her off. I was starving and wanted to stop off for some Chinese but she insisted that she would get me some food from her house. Anyway we got home and I was really looking to meeting this bully of a father she had. Some weeks ago, I had overheard her telling her friend HR how he beats her and screams at her all the time. While she was packing the food, I sat with him and her witch stepmother (all stepmothers are witches) in the living room. During the small talk, it came out that he was a seaman before and had spent a lot of time in Lagos, Portharcourt and other coastal parts of Nigeria. He remembered so much and I spent a good 10 mins happily gisting away with him. I got my food (a very nice prawn curry with basmati rice and chapatis) and headed off home.

Now why am I upset? It's Thursday today and I'm not scheduled to train tomorrow so while talking to Tunji he says "why don't you come and work from home tomorrow?" I thought "great idea" and sent an email off to my manager SN. Can you believe he said NO! Infact remembering now that I'm back at my lodgings is riling me up again. I asked him why and he said with so many trainers off sick (and many more planning to be) he can't afford to be short staffed. There are only 5 classes running on Friday, even if 5 trainers called in sick, he still had 5 spare. I did not think that was a valid excuse. He then said if he allowed me work from home then everyone would want to. "What's my business with that?" I told him at the point of my recruitment, his boss, told me that my family situation would be taken into consideration. He said "Well, we've been doing so" and I said "the baby is still there, it's not a case of doing it for a bit, it's got to be done for the duration of my employment here." It's a matter of terms and conditions. "If anyone else was employed under other terms and conditions, that's their business, mine are what they are."

Anyway, I agreed to stay until tomorrow and then leave if I was not needed but I was very angry. Only an apple crumble and vanilla icecream could pacify me, so that's what I'm having for dinner.

I know the job has been a doddle so far and they have let me off early on Friday as well as allowed me work from home - but still!

Grrrrrr!

Anyway, I'm writing this blog Thursday night to wrap up this week. Have a good weekend y'all!

9 comments:

yeaaahhh well my grrr is with my hubby, who forgot to get home for 7pm so i can go for my mock advance database test. I have been up sice 3am (couldnt sleep after breastfeeding)& annoyed that i make us so scarce at weekend so he can get his assignments done that he cant even get home early 1 day. gggrrrrrNo apple pie at home for me :-(( so off to eat the most yummiest choc cookie from sainsburys for dinnerp.s - size 8 & eats like a horse.joys of been young hey

My dear... can you imagine! I've just had my apple crumble and icecream. I also munched up a meat pie for good measure and I feel soooooo much better! Have your choc cookie - it'll be alright with the world then.

I am sorry you had so much trouble with your boss!! Look at it this way, you will soon be back with your family.

At our age ( I am assuming youre my age , even though i have no idea how old you are-isnt that WEIRD!!) its hard to eat whatever you want and not see the repercussions.

I used to be a 0/1 before my son, then after i had him i shot to a us 10 and I am now back to a 4/6... very topsy turvy!! BUt i know that once you pass 30, it is no longer possible to just eat what you want.

Enjoying reading your blog so far. Just wanted to point out,your comment about all step mothers being witches is very presumptious. Not that i'm one or have one. But i believe some stepmothers are angels. And it does not speak well of one, especially a christian. Don't mean to come across as judgemental, it's just an observation. Still think i'll like you if we met though. Everyone needs one friend like you, who always there. Take care.